SHILLONG, FEB 14: More than 200 residents of Daistong village in East Jaintia Hills have petitioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to suspend what they call an illegal public hearing for a proposed Shree Cement Ltd plant, local activist Reachingson Siangshai said on Saturday.
Siangshai, speaking for the residents, said the December 19, 2025 hearing should be halted because the village dorbar shnong issued a no-objection certificate and signed an agreement with the company “without the knowledge of the residents.”
He said the document was never disclosed locally.
“The agreement… is not known to the people of the village,” he said.
The group also warned of ecological harm. The plant’s proposed site sits near the Lait Prah and Labit cave systems — among the longest in India and South Asia — where a rare blind cave fish was recently documented. “If we allow the cement factory… all these will be destroyed,” Siangshai said.
A third objection concerns land. He alleged the deal allowed a non-tribal entity acquire tribal land directly, violating the Meghalaya Land Transfer Act.
“Since when have you allowed a non-tribal to purchase land directly from a tribal?” he asked the government, demanding clarity on any amendment to the law.
Residents said they approached the deputy commissioner, the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board and other departments before the hearing, but their pleas went unheeded.
A memorandum to Modi, Shah and others was submitted February 9, with copies to Shillong MP Dr Ricky AJ Syngkon, who Siangshai said immediately met the Union Forest Minister to seek suspension of the process.
A separate appeal was also made to Leader of Opposition Mukul Sangma.
The villagers have also petitioned the Meghalaya Human Rights Commission alleging “grave and continuing violations” of fundamental and human rights linked to an environmental public hearing held in their village last December.
The petition, filed under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, asks the Commission to intervene in what villagers describe as misconduct surrounding the December 19, 2025 hearing.
“We place our utmost faith… and humbly pray for appropriate cognizance and necessary action in the interest of justice, human dignity, and the rule of law,” the complaint reads.
